Health services safe under Libs: Dutton

A federal coalition government would maintain medical services such as surgery and emergency departments while cutting waste within the health system.

Opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton says the Labor government has established 12 new bureaucracies without improving health services.

"There is a lot of waste in the new bureaucracies that have been created," Mr Dutton told Sky television on Sunday.

"I will put money back into frontline health services, particularly around mental health."

The new bureaucracies included Medicare Local, which duplicated the federal health bureaucracy across Australia, and new health funding authorities, Mr Dutton said.

He said the opposition would release its health policies in the lead-up to the September 14 federal election.

Mr Dutton said the current funding disagreement between Canberra and the states showed the government's handling of the health portfolio mirrored its management of other portfolios.

Federal Health Minister Tanya Plibersek said on Wednesday the government would reinstate $107 million in funding for Victorian hospitals, but it would bypass the state government and pay the money straight to local hospital networks.

"It has been a disastrous week, a chaotic week for the government when it comes to health policy," Mr Dutton said.

He said the coalition opposed the retrospective cut.

"It is intolerable for a government in the 21st Century in our country to be cutting budgets halfway through a financial year to hospitals they had already promised funding to," Mr Dutton said.

He said this had created an enormous problem, with outstanding funds owing of $138 million to NSW and $103 million to Queensland for health services.

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